Nora Paicu (10To) has been through a hugely interesting and challenging process of hatching quail eggs. She has written the following article to share an insight into a snippet of that process.

On the evening after school had ended and when the holidays had just started, something that I was wishing for occurred. Coming home, I quickly checked the incubator used for poultry eggs. I had bought it with the money I saved, and I once again checked for the thousandth time the quail eggs inside. With great shock, surprise, utter amazement and happiness, I saw two big feet with a wet little body of feathers on top.

Days before the baby quail hatched, I had studied, planned, learned, tested and prepared all the conditions for a good hatching rate. For example, the different stages of fertility and development in the egg, that quail eggs take eighteen days till they hatch, that they need a certain humidity, they need to be rotated at least four times a day and that the temperature should be no less or more than 37.5 degrees Celsius, plus lockdown in day fifteen and much more. I was both excited by the thought of having little quail chicks although I knew there was a 95% chance nothing would hatch because this was the first time I had tried such a thing. I checked on the eggs every day before the holidays when I had placed them in the incubator. I was looking for any sign of movement, noises in the shell and more. I had also prepared their brooder after the twenty-four hours that they had to stay in the incubator, the chicks would need to be placed under the heat plate with water and food.

With low expectations and yet high hopes, when I had found that one quail hatched I spent all my time questioning everything I did. Was the chick too cold or hot, did it need more water or food! Little did I know the challenges I would face soon to come, such as the dreaded day when the snow came to Dunedin! On the day before, I was excited to find a little beak pecking out of an egg in the incubator, I stayed there waiting, watching, making peeping noises to help the baby gain momentum and letting the hatched baby quail (Rafaello) talk to the one in the incubator. I checked on it over twelve hours and saw it pecking away and moving around but never getting much further than that. After this new challenge, I had no idea what to do, but I wanted to help! I knew it was “LAW” in the chicken breeding world to never help a chick out of the egg but I just couldn’t let it there whilst it was losing its energy, to die. So, I requested help from the best person I could find, my mother, who helped me unravel it from its shell and then leave it in the incubator to warm up.

The next day, both quail chicks were in the brooder but it was snowing in Dunedin, I brought them down to the living room and kept them nearby. It was so cold and the temperature was changing for the worst, so I grabbed my hot water bottle and heated it for them. I placed them on the hot water bottle, put the heat plate above them, heated a beanie on the heater and held them in my arms for warmth, as well as giving them honey water for energy for the cold was making them weaker. Thankfully they were able to survive the cold and I placed them back in the incubator during the night for safety and constant temperature. Over the holiday it was the same, check, feed, water and hold… one eye had to be on them all the time! There was no time to stay away for too long otherwise we would place them in the incubator for a little while and be back to care for them in the brooder.

Sadly, one day when I went to check on them, my worst fear had come true. I found that they had passed away. They were cold, since they moved away from the heat plate and were not given constant care. Through this, I have learnt how these chicks the size of a coin when hatched, could be the most vulnerable and strong animals I know of. In the end, you can only learn and improve, and through these gorgeous quails. I learnt that no matter how hard you prepare, there will always be something that you have to face and overcome. I will continue to endeavour to grow healthy little quails in the summer when it is warmer, but I hope this might teach you a little about the process and challenges of incubating quail eggs.

by Nora Paicu, Year 10